Cardiff’s Krystian Bielik appeared to grab a supporter by the throat during a bizarre confrontation during their Championship match against Portsmouth.

The incident occurred in the 70th minute at Fratton Park, with Cardiff trailing 2-0 to the hosts.

Bielik, a former Arsenal youth product, had attempted to gather the ball from the stands.

Footage showed a young fan throwing the ball away from the Cardiff midfielder.

The act prompted a reaction from Bielik, who could be seen reaching out towards the fan’s throat and pushing them away.

The fan responded by standing up and appearing to try to push Bielik in retaliation.

Cardiff’s Krystian Bielik appeared to grab the throat of a young Portsmouth fan after they threw the ball away from him

Another supporter could also be seen throwing the ball at Bielik in the aftermath but struck his Cardiff team-mate Perry Ng.

Following a delay, the supporter involved in the initial incident was ejected from the stadium for their part in the incident while Bielik avoided punishment.

Both Portsmouth manager John Mousinho and his Cardiff counterpart Brian Barry-Murphy were spoken to by the referee, as well as captains from both teams.

Portsmouth would ultimately go on to secure a 2-0 victory over their newly promoted opponents.

Bielik, 28, was making just his fourth appearance for Cardiff after joining the Bluebirds last month.

Barry-Murphy claimed post-match that Bielik ‘got slapped in the face’ by the fan and praised the referee’s handling of the incident.

‘I wanted to make sure he (Bielik) was protected and make sure he was okay, which he is.

‘I thought the referee and his staff handled the incident impeccably.

‘He said he’d seen everything which occurred really clearly, so he diffused the situation and implemented the correct processes from there.

‘The players are always subjected to different things that’s not acceptable.

‘My job is to protect the players, but really I’m trying to make sure that we play well and win.

‘I’m sure the FA will look at it and implement the correct processes.’

The fan was ejected from the stadium following the incident, while Bielik avoided punishment

Portsmouth boss Mousinho offered an apology to Cardiff and their players following the incident.

‘The referee said that, as Krystian went to get the ball, there was a little bit of a kerfuffle and one of the supporters struck him.

‘It wasn’t a good incident. I have just seen him there, and he was OK, but that’s not the point, we can’t be having that.

‘We want to create a really difficult atmosphere at Fratton Park, we have done that successfully over the past few years.

‘Sometimes it tips over, I understand that, I don’t think it needs to tip over to that extent.

‘We extend our apologies to the players, Cardiff and make sure we can try to cut it out.’